Total eclipse of the heart
by Moony-the-Lindt-addict
Summary: Who are You? asked a young man in his twenties with hair that reminded of the Malfoys. I am here to give Harry Potter a place at our school, said Snape. Well, then, you better get in. Snape didn't notice that the nametag on the doorbell didn't say Dursley
1. Chapter 1

"_Alright, Mrs Cooper", said the man; he was devilishly handsome, and wore formal black judge roes and a powdered wig, he couldn't be more than twenty five, but his face was stern and serious. "You just need to sign these…" He waited until the woman was done, then gathered the papers. "Perfect, you're all set. The boy is in the room at the end of the corridor." Gwendolyn Cooper nodded with a strained smile, she was a gorgeous woman if petite frame, dark hair and steely resolve, having much in her of those cop heroines in American TV series._

"_It's the first time you don't attempt to flirt with someone," said a blond man in a lawyer suit, that had been in an armchair next to her, "Especially Gwen, are you ill?"_

"_Sort of."_

_The lawyer raised an eyebrow in worry: "What's wrong, Jude?"_

_The young judge sighted and slackened in his chair, looking thoroughly defeated and sick to the bone, although –and quite scarily –still handsome._

"_Have you seen the child she's fostering?"_

"_Usual stuff, no? Kid that had it bad into the foster system? Although I wonder how she can take any more of those, especially on a single salary. What?"_

"_Four year old kid. Name's harry Potter. His parents died when he was one and he's been living with his mother sister ever since then. He's been abused and raped almost as soon as he arrived there, lived in a cupboard under the stair while the child of the house had two room and they still had one spare for the guests…I…he only had one sheet on the little camp bed they fit in the place and both that and the mattress were rotten with blood."_

"_Fuck."_

"_Yeah."_

_

* * *

__The boy sat on the chair perfectly still, still holding the chocolate cup tightly in his pale tiny hands –it was the first time anyone ever gave him chocolate, and it tasted so nice. They probably didn't know he was a freak yet. Hopefully no one would tell them tonight, that way he could keep the cup a little longer. If he licked inside, it still tasted like chocolate._

_A woman came and sat on the floor in front of his chair, smiling at him "Hello", she said. The boy thought she was very pretty, and she looked very nice, not like aunt Petunia, Harry thought aunt Petunia was quite ugly, but then he was a freak, so he was probably wrong anyways. "Hello, Madam", he said timidly and as politely as he could, hoping she would be gone before someone realised he was a freak, because he didn't want her to know: she'd sat down in front of her chair, and she looked so nice. "I'm Gwen," she said "What's your name?"_

"_Nice to meet you," he said, as politely as he could "My name is Boy"._

_The lady looked very sad and he was afraid she'd guessed what he was, and would be disgusted she'd been talking to him and said: "Do you want another name?" Harry's eyes narrowed in shock "Freaks don't get to have names like normal boys like Dudley", he explained, because he didn't want the nice lady to be hurt because of him. "You're not a freak" she said "And you're not going back to your uncle I promise. Now, do you want another name. Your mother gave you a very pretty one." Harry bit his lip in terror, he didn't have the right to speak about mummy. The first time he had was the first time uncle Vernon had taken his pants off. He said that was what the boy got for speaking about suck a dirty slut of a freak like her, or for asking questions at all, and with every words he thrust into him so hard and it hurt, and hurt, and hurt. But the lady had said he wasn't going back, he looked around in fear in case uncle Vernon was hidden somewhere, waiting for the boy to say yes to come out and take his pants off again, but there was nobody but him and the nice lady in the naked room, so he nodded thinly before looking around in fear. "It's Harry Potter", said the woman very gently. The boy blinked and mouthed the words to himself. Harry Potter. He had a name, like Dudley. Did that mean he was not a freak like the lady had said. But uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia always said…He hesitated: "Can I come with you? I can cook and clean." He knew he wasn't speaking very well, but if only…"you can put my hand on the frying pan if I don't do well, my aunt Petunia did it all the time." The woman looked angry, and he looked down, wanting to cry. Of course she didn't want him. But then she said "Yes, you are coming with me, but no one is putting your hand on the frying pan." She stood up and extended his hand. "Yan call me Gwen, alright? No madam with me. How about we go introducing you to your new brothers?"_

"_Yes, Gwen," he said obediently. He was honestly willing to get beaten up by a hundred Dudley every day just to stay with her._


	2. Chapter 2

Alright hun, chapter 2

_Harry looked outside of the window as the car went. They were still in the town, but the place looked nothing like Privet Drive, there were tall Victorian houses with majestic green fences and gardens._

"_There we are", said Gwen, "it's the one with the pinkish stones at the end of the street."_

_Harry looked outside the window up to the house that made the corner. It looked like one of those mansions on the cover of the magazines aunt Petunia kept on the glass table, in the living room. The stones were a very pretty pink grey, that looked a bit like Gwen's eyes, and it actually had a small tower, like a fairy tale castle, curtains of green were spread all over the walls._

"_Don't touch those" said Gwen, as they came out of the car "They're roses. It's all very pretty in the summer, but they have thorns as well."_

_Harry wasn't sure what thorns were but he nodded anyways "Yes Gwen." She smiled at him, and he blinked a bit in shock, then tried to smile back timidly. She looked happy so he promised himself to try that more often._

_The house had a large marble hall that led to a red stoned kitchen with a large fireplace. There were more people in that kitchen than Harry had ever seen in his life and he couldn't help but hide behind Gwen's legs a little. She smiled warmly at him "Don't worry, darling, they're not as bad as they look."_

"_Oi!" complained two identical boys._

_Gwen laughed at their antics: "The twins are Uriel and Samael." Harry peeked from behind her thigh but hid back immediately when he realised they were looking at him. They were both blond with clear green eyes and cheshire cat smile. Harry thought they were the handsomest thing he'd ever seen although they were a bit creepy._

"_They'll be seventeen in December, they're in high school now" explained Gwen._

_They beamed even more, and Harry hid more definitely behind Gwen, although he peeked a few times from between her legs –they were still looking at him with that smile of theirs._

"_Stop scaring him with your twinlyness you two," scolded Gwen. "Alright, then darling, this is Martin over there, she indicated a rather old boy (from Harry's point of view) with a plain face but gorgeous smile and dark hair a warm brown colour-streaked with honey gold. He works at a restaurant, so we can go there visit him some time."_

_Martin waved. He had the same kind of smile Gwen had, the one that made you feel important and somewhat tingly inside. Harry smiled a little bit and the man beamed at him as though it was something utterly brilliant, so Harry retreated once more behind Gwen, red as a tomato, while the twin sang "Martin and Harry, sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Gwen rubbed her temples with a sigh: those two never changed, honestly._

"_Whatever, people," she said as Martin shook his head, "Ignore them, Harry," he said nicely "They just have a mild brain problem."_

"_Oi!"_

_Gwen cleared her throat:_

"_Anyways, that's Henry, here. He's in first year at university so you won't see him much, a week end once in a while really."_

_A gorgeous guy with hair so blond they were practically white smiled from his place against the counter. He had a look rather like a Hollywood star, except for the part that his sense of fashion was this of a baba cool. _

"_Hello Hun", he said, he had a gorgeous voice, light and exited like bubbly. _

"_Hi" said Harry, he was more like crimson, now, and the twins found it perfectly hilarious._

_Gwen shook her head at them: "And that's Henry's brother, Harrison" The boy had the same hair as his brother, but he was rather plain, he couldn't be more than thirteen. He flashed Harry a smile that was identical to Henry's, and went back to tapping on his cell phone. "That's Eric, he's nine" Eric had auburn hair and hazel eyes and he waved enthusiastically, Harry blinked at the neon green tamagoshi in his hand. "Rory, there, is seven" Rory was a dark skinned boy with longish dark hair and purple eyes, "and Am, who is six." Amy had red hair, and a pout, she gave a vague, contemptuous glance at Harry before reporting her attention to her drawing._

"_Riiiight," said Gwen, "how about the twins go give you a bath while we make dinner?"_

_Uriel snorted: "You just want us out of the kitchen."_

"_Which is rather wise as you tend to make it explode," stated Martin._

_The twins stuck their tongues at him, and Samael took Harry in his arm. "Let's go then, since those people cannot appreciate art."_

_Henry snorted "Yeah right."_


	3. Chapter 3

"_WHAT THE F…!"_

_Gwen and Martin exchanged a panicked glance and ran to the bathroom, followed closely enough by everyone else._

"_Uriel, shut up, you're scaring hi,." said the calmer voice of Samael in the background._

"_How am I supposed to calm down enough to shut up, Sam? Who is the BASTARD…?"_

"_What's going on?" exclaimed Gwen._

_But one look at the bathroom was enough to see exactly what was going on. Harry had retreated into a corner with Samael chanting words of reassurance, large purple bruises in the form of hands marred his collar and the word freak had been carved into the skin of his chest._

"_I want that guy dead," said Henry darkly._

_Harry was shaking uncontrollably and tears were rolling down his face. Amy took a look and dropped her summer dress and her knickers on the floor before getting in the bath._

"_Alright brother," she said authoritatively, "Hop in, now."_

_The tone seemed to make it or perhaps he was too used to order to refuse but he silently slipped in the bath across from her. Gwen had to thank the arrogance of the girl because she had a feeling that no amount of cajoling would have been able to draw the scared boy out of his corner._

"_What are you doing Harry?" she asked the thirteen year old "Oh, we'll have to find something with you two, we can't call you both Harry it's quite confusing."_

"_We'll call him "hun", Gwen, everyone already is. And 'n sending the pictures to the lawyer, there is no way Harry is undressing if front of a professional let alone the court."_

_She smiled at him:_

"_Thanks."_

_He just shrugged and went back to playing snake._

_Dinner was already being put on the table when he received an answer to his text "I'm gonna fucking eat that man alive." A small smile appeared on his lips "Go for it." He dialled, before slipping the phone into his pocket and going back into the bathroom._

_Amy was silent with her ever omnipresent self- importance, while Rory and Eric babbled away, in the middle of a Gameboy pokemon battle. Hun looked wide eyed but he had an expression of joy that hurt Harrison a little. His fingers ghosted at the word whore burned in his own skin under the shirt before he shook himself:_

"_Time to eat you guys," at Harry's flinch he beamed a reassuring smile. "C'mon, you get the princess towel service."_

_Harry's eyes widened at the huge, thick towel and flashed the teenager a look of uncertainty._

"_Come on, hun, he cajoled."_

"_Yeah," said Amy, "You're blocking the way."_

_Rory rolled his eyes at her:_

"_Shut up you minger."_

_Harrison had to refrain himself from bursting out laughing. He enveloped the small body into the warm towel and picked him up to go to the kitchen. Harry and Eric followed closely behind him, and Amy dropped herself on a chair a couple of minute afterward in a pink and sparkly sponge robe._

_The meal that night was quite small, cheese toasties and salad, and it had to be interrupted when Harry went to vomit into the bathroom. After ten minutes of waiting it became obvious that he was hiding, whether out of shame or fear they didn't know, and the twins made it their jobs to go cajole and tickle and joke until he agreed to come back. The dark look in Uriel's eyes told them it had been fear. Martin had quickly heated tomato soup with pasta letters, and thankfully the boy's stomach kept that._

"_Since you're small and you look like a girl, you can have the princess room", declared Amy after a little while._

_He didn't seem to realise any more than her that it was insulting, though they had an inkling that he wouldn't be able to tell worse things to be insults and that wasn't amusing at all. _

"_Thanks," he said a bit timidly, and she smiled a haughty smile that had them keep a cooing noise in. _

_The girl was from a noble family and had been raise by a stern tutor to be the daughter of the lord but not once to be a child. When the man had died, the woman had become even more of a wretch, taking corporal punishments way too far as there was now no one to check on the girl's health or chastise her. She had always hated children and took it out on the girl she had to keep if she wanted to keep the wages with increasing violence. After a while, one of the servant went to the police despite her fear and Amy was put in Gwen's charge, as the woman was her closest relative._

_The night was harsh for everybody. The sight of the marks of violence on the small boy and the obvious malnourishment haunted their sleep. Uriel and Samael, as for them were woken by sobs on the top floor. They lived in the tower as well, in what they called the guards room. They exchanged a look and went upstairs. Harry had somehow slipped beneath the bed with all the blankets and pillows. It would have been adorable if he hadn't still been sobbing from somewhere in there._

"_Hey, Hun, it's okay, come out, we can help."_

_The boy just sobbed harder:_

"_Pl…please, I'm sorry I'm loud. Don't make me do the whore, please."_

_Samael could have sworn he had heard the sound of his brother snapping. Vernon Dursley was actually doomed._

"_Of course not, hun. Come on, You need to get out of there."_

_The boy obeyed but Samael was pretty sure it was because he was too scared of the possible consequences. _

"_How about we watch some TV?" he proposed._

_Harry looked at him, clearly lost. Yep, Dursley was lost. And he wouldn't be the one to complain. They watched Merlin until the morning, and Gwen smiled tenderly as she found her little hun, head in Uriel's lap, eyes still riveted on the TV with fascination, and a scary number of empty cups of chocolate and marshmallows on the floor._


	4. Chapter 4

_Severus Snape could not have been in a fouler mood, but that, as most of his students would have confirmed, was nothing different from usual._

_The potion master was a man in his fourties, not badly built, although no quidditch player, who knew how to take care of yourself about as well as a troll, which his subsequent best friend Lucius Malfoy would have told him if he'd been anyone else but Severus Snape._

_However he was not, and to every enquiry that came his way Lucius responded that Severus was indeed his very best friend, and a terrifying person, as ill-humoured as his nose was crooked, and that Lucius had a wife and a son to take care of, and therefore was not willing to die just yet._

_As of now, Severus being even more ill-humored than usual, and sadly on school duty, which didn't allow Lucius to pour him a drink that would have soothed his unyielding character, both Malfoys, father and son, stood very proudly, very neatly, very per fectly…very silently! In front of a lovely victorian house, that was really just small enough not to be a manor, but still had to have at least twenty rooms. They exchanged uniformingly mercury look as Severus stiffly rang the doorbell. A young man of about twenty, with blond hair that almost managed to unsettle them as they had at once a very strange feeling to be in front of another Malfoy opened the door, and eyes them with a blink. He was a very handsome bloke, and, soon as the shock of their clothes had passed smiled becomingly:_

"_Why 'Ello!"_

"_Good morning," said Snape stiffly._

"_And a fine one it is indeed," said the man, looking like he was about to laugh at him._

"_I am professor Snape," said Severus with obvious bad grace, "I teach potions at Hogwarts."_

_The young man nodded:_

"_Come in then."_

_None one them noticed that the name spelled out on the bell wasn't Dursley._

_The house was spacious and comfortable enough that Lucius didn't have to force himself to compliment on it, and the boy smiled._

"_Gwen inherited it from quite a few generation, noblety of arms she is, a century ago, people would have been piling up in a parlour trying to get an audience with her and called her her ladyship."_

_Severus rolled his eyes at his friend's nod of self-importance –nobles and their ancient blood and generations, wasn't it the stupidest thing that Petunia Evans of all people had married a noble, he wouldn't have thought even a pit bull to have wanted her. He looked around, all types of magazines were scattered across the table. And a row of shoes were settled against the kitchen wall under the radiator, they were all of extremely good quality, and…there were ten pairs of them._

"_Oh, god, it's like a wealthier version of the Weasleys."_

_Lucius, who had followed his look just grinned:_

"_I like their hair much better."_

"_Yeah, you would."_

"_Would you like some tea? Frances?"_

"_Yes, sir?"_

_A young girl of sixteen with dark olive skin and a round becoming face showed at the door in a neat grey skirt, perfect, almost luminescent white, loosely buttoned shirt, and gorgeous although terrifying looking high heel shoes._

"_May we have some tea?" he turned back to them: "What would please you? Fauchon? Earl grey?"_

_Lucius, , who had never tasted muggle tea in his life, assured courteously that anything would do. And Severus nodded briskly in acquiescence. The young man shrugged:_

"_Very well, then. Fauchon, if you will Fran."_

"_Yes, sir."_

"_And can you call upstairs and mention that the Hogwart's…" He eyes them a second, trying to figure out what they were, then shrugged again "…committee has arrived."_

_She smiled brightly as she went out:_

"_They will be thrilled, sir!"_

_Severus had almost expected her to curtsy._

"_Well, then," said the young man,"isn't this going to be thrilling!"_


	5. Chapter 5

_Hey, I received a few reviews of people that were a bit lost, so I'll explain quickly, the last chapter was basically seven years later, and after a little bit of thought on the process, I think what happened is that Gwen sent back an answer almost as soon as she got the Hogwarts letter, making Dumbledore realise that Harry had maybe not been treated as a freak like he expected him to (sorry, I don't personally dislike Dumbledore, but I always was furious at the fact that he left Harry with the Dursleys and Sirius to rot in Askaban, so he'll be a nasty bugger in that story), so he sent Snape to show him the magical world, thinking that the potion master will give him a tough time and that way he'll be really happy about the attention that Dumbledore gives him, which is basically why Snape is the one to take Harry in Diagon Alley and not Hagrid. Lucius is just there because Snape refused to be alone with the offspring of James Potter for an entire afternoon._

_Also I got a review telling me about my grammar problems, I'm really sorry about that, and will try to reduce them as much as possible, but English is, after all, only my second language so bear with me here._

"_Thrilling!" was NOT the word Severus Snape would have used._

_First of all, the moment Gwen Cooper came down the stairs, he felt extremely greasy and underdressed, second of all, from the look he got from the Malfoy haired boy, he knew exactly what he was thinking._

"_My mother, Gwen," he said, with a hint of a mocking smirk._

_Also he had a stinking feeling that either Petunia did not leave here, or that her idea of a functional couple had very much changed since he last saw her. He hoped very much it was the first possibility because the idea that Petunia had even managed to put that gorgeous woman in her bed was deeply disturbing and thoroughly depressing. _

_There was a slight movement of air and Potter literally fell from the sky, smoothly landing on the ball of his feet. He didn't look like James Potter, not really, no matter how much Severus had expected him to; his hair was too long, his skin too fair, his eyes too large, almond shaped, and even more exotic looking than Lily's ever had. He was also very thin and…his ears were pointy?_

"_Who took my Arwen ears again?" exclaimed a girl who could have been fourteen, a deep purple corset on, with a short gothic skirt. Her hair was a deep copper colour, and she looked even more arrogant than Lucius himself, which really ought to have earned her a medal._

"_Hey, Amy," said the…geez, they really needed to learn his name, they couldn't keep calling him the guy with the Malfoy hair colour all the time._

"_Hey Henry, I didn't know you were back, do you know who's got my Arwen ears?"_

"_I think Hun does, what do you need elf ears for anyways?"_

_Oh, and he didn't understand a thing that was going on in that bloody house._

"…_told you not to jump from the fifth floor," was saying Gwen, scolding Potter. The boy listened very carefully then burst in tears and hugged her tightly:_

"_I'm so sorry mama!"_

_Severus wanted to go home; he had just found a marvellous cerulean skin potion that hadn't been brewed for a century that he'd been dying to try, maybe a couple of glasses of scotch with ice from the Fae Winter Court…_

_Lucius took a glance at him, sighted, then elegantly cleared his throat._

_The room somewhat froze, and everyone looked slightly embarrassed, except for Potter who was still crying while Gwen rocked him softly._

'_this is a madhouse," thought the Malfoy lord, fighting against a shake of the head that would be no doubt misinterpreted –or in that case, well interpreted but very badly timed._

"_We have come at the request in your letter to explain Mr Potter about magic and take him to Hogsmeade to buy his furniture," he said matter-of-factly. "Now if Mr or Mrs Dursley wants to come with us…"_

_The moment the name came out, he knew something had gone terribly wrong. Potter stopped crying and stiffened in Gwen's arms, turning to them a look of honest terror, while the room suddenly charged with outright hostility._

"_Dursley?"_

"_Who said Dursley?"_

_Bright, handsome twins appeared in the doorway, a lethal expression on their lovely faces._

"_The Dursleys are dead," said the one one the right._

"_Not that we killed them!" theatrically exclaimed the other with a scary smile._

"_Of course not, Uriel! How were we to know that they had death penalty in Texas when we sent them there?"_

"_I know, Samael, terribly unexpected, I was very sorry for them."_

_He really didn't sound sorry at all and Lucius felt a shiver down his back: when in the lord had muggles become incredibly creepy?_

_After half an hour of muddled explanation, that ended with a very strong resolution in both Lucius and Severus that they were going to KILL Dumbledore__1__, while Draco was just a bit creeped out, unsure of what the hell had been going on, they were finally ready to go, and "Hun", whom that had not heard once to be refered to as Harry, went up to take his coat; the three of them were left with Amy, who had finally gotten her elf ears –which were to Draco's great relief, not actually real–back; they were dangling lightly from her long pianist fingers:_

"_You do sleep, right? You wizards?" she asked conversationally._

_Lucius blinked at her:_

"_What?"_

"_Do you sleep?"_

"_Of course."_

_She nodded:_

"_Well, I'm not a wizard, I don't have a wand or anything like that, but if you hurt Hun, sure as the sun rise, I will slit your throat open in your sleep, got it?"__2_

_Potter bounced happily down the stairs:_

"_I'm READY!"_

_Amy Cooper cast them a last hostile glance before disappearing into the kitchen ._

"_Right," said Lucius, his voice coming out vaguely strangled, "let's go then."_


	6. Chapter 6

_Hey you guys, just wanted to say I'm writing another fic along with that now, it's called __**The Black Rule**__, please check it out._

_Severus Snape had had many students over the years, students that were all, from his point of view, annoying apathetic worms that had no knowledge at all._

_Potter was not apathetic. In fact, he was so not apathetic that he made Lucius blink owlishly with a hint of a smile on his face, thoroughly dazzled Draco, and gave Severus a headache: he was chirpy. Completely, insanely, annoyingly chirpy; and nothing could make him any less chirpy, no matter how much Severus tried._

"_This potion is used to corrupt a man's soul," he'd said in his most gloomy and sepulchral voice –the only reason Lucius had not rolled his eyes at his antics was his Malfoy upbringing._

_Draco had shivered lightly, looking at the potion in fearful wonder._

_Potter had beamed, BEAMED, for the love of God._

"_Like Grima in Lord of the Rings?" he'd asked happily._

_Severus had had the greatest urge to bang his head against a wall, and Lucius had cleared his throat:_

"_I'm sure," he'd said in that just too neutral tone that meant he was struggling not to laugh._

"_What's Grima, in lord of the Rings," had asked Draco in a low tone, and Potter had leaped in a loud, __**chirpy**__ explanation of Lord of The Rings, and elf ears, and immortal life, and Severus did NOT find it interesting AT ALL!_

"_Are there ghosts in the wizarding world?"_

"_Are they really scary like the ones in the black mounts?"_

"_Can they kill people? Cause it would be so cool if they could kill people."_

"_Wait, can you bring people back from the dead?"_

"_Oh, are there dragons? I would love to see a dragon!"_

"_Uh… are there any dragons _here_, though, cause that once a seagull pooped on Amy's hair and that was just nasty. We're not in danger of dragon poop, are we?"_

"_Are they no elves in this world, cause elves are really cool, and wise, and stuff. Also pretty."_

_Chirpy, chirpy, chirpy._

_Worse even, Severus found himself _listening.

God he hated this life.

"So," asked Dumbledore later, as Severus sat in his office, having left Lucius at Gwens, to have a conversation that looked a lot like flirting with the Henry boy. Lucius really had a Narcissus complex to a scary point. Draco and Harry were watching Lord Of the Rings. Severus was NOT jealous. "How did you find Mr Potter?"

Severus glowered, and Dumbledore chuckled –Okay, maybe he was a little jealous, but that was only because he was left with the old meddling coot:

"I see, Severus, please, do let let your memories prejudice you…"

"Prejudice me? I don't need any bloody prejudice, just thinking about the boy gives me a headache, and an unhinged fear of rings of any kind!"

"I see," said Dumbledore, a tad puzzled. "Lemon drop?"

Severus sneered:

"No, thank you, I will just go to sleep if you don't mind. I have a headache."

Oh who was he kidding now, he was a lot jealous.


	7. Chapter 7

"Have you seen a toad?" asked Hermione for the twelfth time, dragging Neville behind her. The doe eyed boy tripped a bit over his own feet, thinking hard that if he wasn't so scared never to see Trevor again, he would stay as far away from the strange and bossy little girl as possible.

She spoke to much, too fast and too determinately.

And her shoes were too shiny, like in this muggle book from Lewis Carol that had been his mother's favourite –he'd shoved it in his trunk, worn out from all the times he'd read it, and all the times before that, when he hadn't known how to read but had looked at the picture, wondering if his mother's hair had looked so charming before the hospital cut them off and put the stink of their cleansing potions all over her.

He recognised one of the boys sitting there and tried to tell her to go away before she did something stupid –Draco Malfoy certainly wouldn't stand to be spoken like that a muggle born no matter how bossy she was.

Neville had never seen the boy conversing with him, so close they could have seen each other's freckles if their skin hadn't been so clear and spotless, but he was just as lovely as Malfoy, and his robes were clearly expensive and Neville felt very stupid, and tried to get the Girl –Hermin, was it? To leave once more, but she stood her ground, frowning at him with a glance that reminded him of his grand mother.

"Well?" she said as though they were too thick to understand and not ignoring her.

"I beg your pardon?" said the Malfoy boy, silver eyes bearing into her in contempt. "Have we met before?"

"Oh!" she smiled brightly and extended her hand: "I'm Hermione Granger."

"Like in the winter tale," said the other boy lightly, sage green eyes looking straight at Neville rather than her.

Malfoy looked at her hand in disinterest, making no move to touch it. Neville though he saw slight disgust in his eyes –he wasn't surprised: a woman handing out her hand to be kissed rather than letting a gentleman honour her couldn't have been raised very well!

"So…I do not know you. Yet you speak to me with familiarity."

She looked slightly unsettled:

"Well…N…Neville has lost his toad."

"Oh, that's sad." Said the other boy "I would feel very depressed if I lost my frog, Lucius gave it to me for my birthday. It's a Christmas sensation from the year 1924, it only eats candy, like in Cut The Rope." He raised a shimmering glass aquarium in which lovely miniature plants from Siberia grew near a lovely frozen little pond.

"My uncle had one, when he was a boy, he told me about it. It's from deep in the lands of the Christmas elves, right?"

The boy beamed at him and nodded:

"It's name is Darla. What's the name of yours?"

"Trevor."

"Are you assured?" asked Malfoy, much more courteous to him, either because he hadn't breeched every etiquette book the first time he spoke, or because he friend seemed to like him.

Neville nodded.

"Which range?"

"Medium short, I think."

"I beg your pardon, this is a living animal we're speaking of, I don't think whether he will be reimbursed if it dies or not is the point!" exclaimed Hermione accusingly, clearly offenced.

Draco and Neville both cast her an incredulous look, while Harry had to refrain from bursting out laughing.

"Hm…An assurance is actually a spell that keeps your animal relatively safe, and binds it to a range not to far about you," said Neville quietly.

Draco cast a glance at Hermione, and whispered something to Harry that made him laugh. Hermione reddened in anger:

"You better get dressed," she barked, as she stalked out, "we're almost there!"

"Where was she raised, the swamp? I'm Draco Malfoy by the way."

"Neville Longbottom."

The green eyes boy smiled merrily from the other side of his blond best friend:

"Harry Potter," he said.

Neville's jaw fell.


	8. Chapter 8

_Draco cast a glance at Hermione, and whispered something to Harry that made him laugh. Hermione reddened in anger:_

_"You better get dressed," she barked, as she stalked out, "we're almost there!"_

_"Where was she raised, the swamp? I'm Draco Malfoy by the way."_

_"Neville Longbottom."_

_The green eyes boy smiled merrily from the other side of his blond best friend:_

_"Harry Potter," he said._

_Neville's jaw fell._

Harry laughed, he had a sweet, agreeable laugh, almost timid, and Neville wondered why it was so, become he seemed so easy going and oozed something amazingly like serenity. If it had been just slightly more hysterical, it would have sounded like his own.

Harry didn't seem to notice the question in his countenance –or maybe he just ignored it, but Malfoy did, and his eyes imprinted on him for a brief second in a clear _DON'T ASK!_ Neville nodded ever so slightly –not that he would have. He knew he would feel wretched if someone mentioned his parents.

Harry was still talking:

"I know, everyone seems to think I should be taller, and bigger muscles and all that," he grinned casually, standing up and slipping off the robe he was wearing before with no shame whatsoever and throwing it at a slightly bemused Draco while he shuffled around in his trunks for his Hogwarts' robes. There was something odd about his skin, Neville couldn't help but notice. People always had marks, tiny scars, signs or wears, or the odd trace of tan, or the squalor of one who stays in too much, but there was nothing of that on Harry, his skin was opalescent and glistening, like a snake who'd just shed his old skin.

It was mother of pearl like, and for some reason he found it disturbing.

He decided he would pretend not to notice it either. He wasn't sure why it seemed so odd and out of place, but given the hush Malfoy –no, Draco –had given him earlier, he figured it couldn't be good and left it at that.

It was only later that he figured it out, and it gave him the feeling that icy fingers were tugging at the tip of his spine.

It was after the cart had passed and Harry let out an exclamation at the moving tattoo of a mirthful mermaid in the inside of a wrapper like the hundreds Neville had taken with him, safe in a bottomless bag tucked between his clothes.

Harry reminded him of his parents.

There was no apparent reason for it, because Harry wasn't fragile, or insane, and his eyes weren't empty but he did, somehow.

"Oh," he scoffed at another wrapper –the mermaid was showing of her glistening fangs and looking disturbingly pretty, and she hummed a jaunty little love song from the back of his hand, "it's a dragon again," He had one on his palm, curled up in a tight ball and happily snoring little bursts of flames. "Do you want it Neville?"

Neville had about a thousand wrappers with dragons on them. He grinned, a tight little ball in his throat:

"Sure."

Harry grinned wider and applied the little thing on his hand, and the little ball seemed to go away –he had a hundred dragon tattoos, but he'd never worn any of them. The little guy was kind of awesome.


	9. Chapter 9

Hermione Granger did not come again and the rest of the trip -frightening likenesses non-including, was oddly agreeable. Neville wasn't sure why he'd expected it wouldn't go well. Everyone in his family had told him how much fun Hogwarts was and how many friends people made there...He'd just not really expected to be one of those people who made friends -he'd never done it before. But both Harry and Draco seemed to actually enjoy having him here.

They talked to him and actually listened to his answers and everything.

He decided he really quite liked it, which was why he dreaded the subject of houses a bit, knowing about the Malfoy family -like everyone else. But when he told the two that his parents had been in Griffindor and his Gran quite wanted him to go said, Harry said that his parents had been there, too, and professor Snape had said it was a party house, which, if it was like Henry's party Uni, would be so much fun.

Draco shook his head at him:

"I don't think he meant it in a good way, Hazz."

"But they're parties! Anyway, I think I'd like Ravenclaw as well, all that stuff about diadems giving infinite knowledge is kinda timelordy or Dollhous-y, you know? Not that Hufflepuff or Slytherin would be bad."

Draco snorted:

"There's no way you'll be in Slytherin. You wouldn't know ambition if I hit you on the nose with it."

"What?" blinked Harry "Don't hit my nose. It's new! I bought a pixie nose potion from Leaga to spike Amy's drink, but then she spiked back, and then the twins spiked..."

Draco and Neville both leaned in to look it over carefully:

"It doesn't look all that different from your normal nose."

"I know. But it does make shiny sparkles when I sneeze."

They moved over as the train seemed to slow down and were hailed and herded by an enormous mound of a man who then put them in a boat with a strawberry blond haired girl with freckles whose name was Hannah Abbott, but all attempts at conversation were cut short when the glistening cut of Hogwarts appeared in the darkness, shining with light.


End file.
